LATEST: Reyhaneh Jabbari, Who Killed Man Allegedly Attempting to Rape Her, is Executed

The Supreme Leader’s top advisor Ali Akbar Velayati has declared that Iran will “win” the nuclear talks with the 5+1 Powers — however long the process takes.

Velayati told reporters Saturday, “We are confident that in the end, even if Iran-P+1 negotiations last for a long time, the Islamic Republic of Iran will be the winner.”

He said that even though some of the 5+1 (US, Britain, France, Germany Russia, and China) intend to deprive Iran of its “inalienable” right to a nuclear program, Tehran will never be the country to pull out of the talks.

Velayati reiterated that Iran is pursuing “peaceful nuclear energy within the framework of international regulations and supervision.”

Iran and the 5+1 Powers are still far apart on key issues for a comprehensive nuclear agreement, ahead of a November 24 deadline when interim arrangements expire.

Foremost among those issues is the number and level of Iran’s centrifuges for enrichment of uranium. The two sides are also debating the duration of the agreement and the timing of the lifting of US-led sanctions.

Velayati’s statement renews the possibility that Iran will seek another extension of the interim agreement, reached last November and renewed in July to allow more negotiations.

Iranian officials raised that possibility after talks in New York in September, but they pulled back after the US and its partners said they were not considering the extension.

Tehran’s lead negotiator, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, held a firm line on Saturday:

All nuclear capabilities of Iran will be preserved and no facility will be shut down or even suspended and no device or equipment will be dismantled.

We will not retreat one iota from the country’s nuclear rights, but we are fully ready for transparency and confidence-building.

Araqchi repeated Iran’s fundamental demand: “All sanctions should be lifted and the Islamic Republic of Iran will not accept even a single instance of sanctions to remain in place under a comprehensive nuclear deal.”

Implicitly responding to a Thursday statement by his US counterpart, Wendy Sherman, Araqchi also pointed towards an extension of the talks:

The negotiations between Iran and Group 5+1 are going ahead in a tough path filled with ups and downs and there is no good prospect for the
conclusion of the talks by the deadline.

Undoubtedly, attempting to launch negotiations through media outlets rather than (sitting behind) a negotiation table…, accompanied by illogical excessive demands, will not only help the progress of the talks but also will make the present tough path more difficult or impossible.

Reyhaneh Jabbari, Who Killed Man Allegedly Attempting to Rape Her, is Executed

Reyhaneh Jabbari, arrested in 2007 when she killed a man allegedly trying to rape her, was executed at dawn on Saturday.

Jabbari was sentenced to death by a Tehran court in 2009, a decision upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court, for the death of surgeon Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi.

The UN, European Union, and Amnesty International said Jabbari’s confession was extracted under intense pressure and threats from Iranian prosecutors, and they called for a retrial.

Ahmed Shaheed, the UN’s human rights rapporteur on Iran, said in April that the killing was an act of self-defence.

The family of Sarbandi, a former employee of the Intelligence Ministry, maintained that Jabbari had planned the killing, buying a knife two days earlier.

The execution was postponed on several occasions. However, Jabbari was again moved to Death Row earlier this month, despite the international protests and a petition with hundreds of thousands of signatures.